War Diaries of a Little Englander.
Being the toy soldier, wargaming and kit bashing ramblings of a middle-aged Englishman.

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Greetings!

'A gaping silken dragon,/Puffed by the wind, suffices us for God./We, not the City, are the Empire's soul:/A rotten tree lives only in its rind.'

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

A pick up...

... game. At last, the sound of rolling dice! Last summer, I was much taken by Bob Cordery's gridded wargame rules for Frontier and Modern games, based on the work of one of the great pathfinders, Joe Morschauser. I was also spurred on by Ross Mac's play testing, using ACW in 15mm, and Russian Civil War figures. So, I invested in more of the same, and produced a small tin box full of murderous Bolsheviks, and massacring Whites:

And, tonight, I had a spare hour or so, and an opponent, to get the little fellows out of their biscuit tin barracks. Here are the Whites:

First moves saw heavy play by the artillery on both sides as the infantry moved up to a meeting engagement:

The first close combat between the pointy-headed Bolsheviks, and the flat-capped Whites saw the Reds destroyed, which was in keeping with the early stages of the game.

But, a sudden change in fortunes (the Whites feared some occult happening, while the Bolsheviks just took it as the hand of history) put the Whites under pressure. In quick succession, they lost three stands of infantry and the machine gun stand, leaving a ragged front under heavy Red artillery fire...

But worse was to come. An off-target Red artillery salvo hit the White command stand, and even Our Saviour couldn't save them...

The final straw was a highly symbolic dice throw by the White commander (me!). Heavily affected by this message, I called it a day.

A quick, enjoyable game - thanks Bob, and Joe.

And on another happy note, look what I found in the shed:

My long lost beer mats of London pubs for the Jolly Fun Wargames rules! Click on the image to remind yourself of England's glory - its pubs and history (with a little help from the odd Scot and Hanoverian).

2 comments:

Great to see the pick up game and splendid to see you gaming- well done ! An excellent pick up set up(if you know what I mean) and I become increasingly convinced "small is beautiful" in terms of games. Loads of fun can be had without a 9 by 6 table I feel tho the odd big game can be fun to be in too. The beer mats look good too and were a staple in basing terms many moons ago. Finally are you posting a radio link?

Quotation of the moment

'In a sense, nothing in life is planned - or everything is - because in the dance every step is ultimately the corollary of the step before; the consequence of being the kind of person one chances to be.'

Anthony Powell, The Acceptance World (A Dance to the Music of Time), 1955.

Cpt. Front

About Me

New Men-At-Arms

Not out until February 2018, but order your copy early - you know it makes sense!

NOW IN PAPERBACK!!!

The Home Guard - 'This is likely to be the standard reference book on the subject for many years to come'; Bernard Lowry, Fortress Study Group.

A Vanished Ideology Essays on the Jewish Communist Movement in the English-Speaking World

Yiddish-speaking, English-speaking, Jews in the Communist movement. With a chapter on British Jews, ethnicity and class, by Al Front.

When Jews had a place on the Left.

The Labour Party is sunk in a mess of anti-Semitism, but it was not always thus:

Alf R. Ont on the wireless

Click on the image and scroll to 01:05:23 for the dulcet tones of Mr Ont, talking about women in the Home Guard.

Women in the Home Guard

From The Conversation, 5th February, 2016. Active, patriotic British women to the fore...

NEW BIOGRAPHY of 'FLYING' FAY TAYLOUR

277 pages of thrills and spills. 'Fanatical Fay Taylour', the greatest woman motor sports champion yet. A speed fiend on race tracks across the world, and a political activist who was banned from the USA, and interned in the UK. Member of the ultra-right underground in 1940s London and Dublin, later an Irish republican and supporter of Castro. Click image for a FREE ,yes, FREE, Pdf version provided by the University of Warwick.

Evolution and change in politics

A review of a new history of what was once a notable element of political allegiance among the Jewish diaspora. (Clink on the image for free link).

Germany calling...

The woman who recruited 'Lord Haw Haw' to the Berlin wireless. Socialist, Bolshevik, National Socialist, enemy broadcaster. (From The Historian 119; click on image for Pdf)

BBC Radio 4: Red Clydeside, Decoy Defences and Invasion panic

More Radio 4 'Making History' rambling - from 20th November 2012 (click on the image for link)

'The Land of My Dreams'

British Great War literary combatants and their writing about the war and home. A Pdf of an article from Cultural & Social History, vol. 8, no: 2, June 2011. (Click on image for link).

British Jews & the Communist Party of Great Britain

More reading for the VBCW enthusiast, not to mention the discerning reader (click on image for link). From Socialist History, vol.12, no: 41, September 2012

BBC Radio 4: Speed, women, and fascism

Listen to my dulcet tones, talking about 'Flying' Fay Taylour on BBC Radio 4's Making History (click on the image for link)

'Fay Taylour: a dangerous woman in sport and politics'

A must for the VBCW gamer - the most successful woman motor sport ace ever and a fascist. Click on image for journal link, an open access Pdf will eventually be available.

The Armourer magazine, March/April 2012

The true daughters of Britannia who joined the Home Guard

Political internment without trial, 1940 style

Fascists, nazis, and the IRA interned. Click on image for back issue of Britain At War, issue 46, Feb 2011

George Blake, literary Scot in the Great War

The Great War fiction of the veteran, George Blake - from Cencrastus no:67. Out of print, but I can send a photocopy, if you wish.

For the VBCW war gamer

In History Scotland, March/April 2011; click on image for free Pdf.

Fifth Column panic!

Buy a back issue - all that is left

The incomparable generation of 1914

from The Historian no:110, Summer 2011, magazine of The Historical Association; click on image for Pdf.

BBC Radio 4: Stand By the King!

Listen to my words of historical wisdom about the BUF in Norfolk on Radio 4's 'Making History'. Click on image for link.

One I did earlier...

Musso and the RSI

Fascism in Scotland

From the Scottish Historical Review, volume 87 (2) 2008 (click on the image for Pdf link)

Another Home Guard one...

A 50 page booklet, now out of print, but available as a pdf from Warwick University - click on the image for the link.